Hot Springs Arkansas

May 26, 2024

The trip so far!

Sorry this post is a bit technical and that I have no photos of the repairs. When I'm working I am fixated on the task and never think of taking progress pictures.

Tuesday May 21 2024 We have a 412 mile drive scheduled for today and planned on an early start. We got up at 6am and were ready to shortly after 7, however the RV had other plans. First issue was the slide out would not retract. When troubleshooting did not disclose the problem because the fuse panel labeling was wrong and I didn’t discover this until later in the day. We retracted the slide using the backup mechanism. This required removing the fascia at the top of the slide-out to access the gearmotor.

With the slide in we started hooking up to the truck and the electric jack would not retract. Seeing basically the same “no voltage” as the slide-out I assumed the problems were related and as I hadn’t fixed the slide-out yet, I just removed the jack and used the stabilizing jacks to lower the tongue onto the truck hitch.

Millie took this during the troubleshooting

In later troubleshooting we discovered we had two distinct problems. The jack issue was due to a electrical junction box that was full of water. In laying the blame on the manufacturer for the difficulty in diagnosing the slide out problem. The power wire at the slide out switch is purple and somewhere hidden in the ceiling the wire is spliced to a White w/pink tracer wire. Further complicating the work is the fuse panel labeling says #7 is the slide-out circuit. The purple/white w/pink wire was actually on #5. At this point I’m assuming there is a bad connection somewhere in the ceiling. This story continues a couple paragraphs down.

We our calm, delt with our problems and started towards our next destination at 9:30am. The next part of the journey was a long grueling 412 mile trek down interstate 40.

I don’t know what I was thinking when I planned this, 400 miles towing is a long day but I-40 in Tennessee and Arkansas was going to make it a long grueling day. The highway in both states is plagued with potholes and at 70 MPH with bumper-to-bumper traffic it’s difficult to see them in time to avoid them. Not that there is anywhere to swerve to with vehicles on each side, nor is sudden swerving a good thing to do when towing an RV. The Silver Bullet and the RV took some heavy hits in deep holes, but I have not found any damage.

The journey to Hot Springs Arkansas ended at around 5 pm. We are camped at Gulpha Gulch Campground in the Hot Springs National Park. The town of Hot Springs is a few miles down the road. The campground is small but nice, some sites are along a creek, all sites are wooded and have full hookups.

We never really got to explore around the campground.

We used the backup method to put the slide-out, I discovered the waterlogged Junction box and made a temporary repair, reinstalled the jack and used it to set up the RV on the site. It’s a good thing I was able to get it working as the site has a steep slope and I had to jack the front of the RV up about 10 inches to get the rig level.

Site 12 at Gupha Gulch Campground

Wednesday, May 22, 2024 I spent the day tracing out the power wire for the slideout. Removed many ceiling mounted devices trying to find the break in continuity. As of yet that has been unsuccessful, that is why the National Electric Code does not allow you to bury (hide) a splice box in any type construction. RV manufacturers use their own electric code, or they’re supposed to anyhow.

I decided the best thing to do was abandon the original wire aand pull a new one across the ceiling., but first I needed to make sure there was nothing else on the slide circuit. This took up more time as I traced the path of every circuit in the RV.

We spent most of our time in or working on the RV because it rained everyday we were in Arkansas. The morning weather map looked like this every morning.

We spent several hours driving to anywhere In Hot Springs I thought might have the proper wire, to no avail. As a temporary fix I have a jumper wire we will stretch across the kitchen while operating the slide. Amazon is delivering all the parts I need to Los Alamos and I will do permanent repairs while there. PS: I heard later that the stores keep wire in the back room because of theft, you have to ask for it.

Bath house row

Thursday May 23, 2024. Today we went to town as tourists, We walked Central Ave where all the ornate early 1900’s bathhouses line one side of the road. One of them is now a museum operated by the National Park Service, We took the self guided tour which covers all three floors, plus the mechanical workings in the basement.

It’s hard to believe that the entrepreneurs of the day built this whole town into a resort/cure all for whatever ails you using plain old water. That’s right, there is nothing special about the Hot Springs water, its just hot. The Spa’s offered hot baths, hot showers, some with deluges of water, steam baths, vaper chambers, hot towel wraps all using the same magic ingredient, Hot Water!

Bath house row

We also drove the 3.5 mile road to the top of a nearby mountain. At the summit there is a 200 foot observation tower at the summit. For $10-$15 you can ride an elevator to the top for a panoramic view of Hot Springs and it’s surroundings.